Slide-sleeve package

ABSTRACT

A slide-sleeve package has a pair of openings in the slide and a pair of tongues in the sleeve passing through the openings. The tongues, extending in opposite directions and transversely to the axis of the sleeve, engage the walls of the openings to provide a resistance to the axial movement of the slide.

I v United States Patent [111 3,741,387 Whitecar June 26, 1973 SLIDE-SLEEVE PACKAGE 3,521,810 7/1970 Boyer 229/9 x 2,435,355 2/1948 lngram, Sr. 229/9 X [751 Invent whlleca" westvllle 2,654,474 10/1953 Ringler 220/108 x 73 Assignee: Smith Kline & French Laboratories, 3,464,544 9/1969 Franck 206/78 B Phlladelphia, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [22] Filed: Apr. 27, 1971 110,271 10/1917 Great Britain.... 229/11 1,407,14 1 19 Appl o 13 ,869 2 l 65 France 229/19 Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance [52] US. Cl 206/79, 206/DIG. 10, 229/9, Assistant Examiner-Steven E. Lipman 229/ 19 AttorrieySmith, Harding, Earley & Follmer [51] Int. Cl B65d 13/06, B65d 73/00 [58] Field of Search 206/42, 78 R, 78 B, [57] ABSTRACT 200/79, 80 R, 80 A, DIG. 10; 229/9-11,

l9 20; 40/1648 A slide-sleeve package has a pan of opemngs In the slide and a pair of tongues in the sleeve passing through 56] References Cited the openings. The tongues, extending in opposite directions and transversely to the axis of the sleeve, engage UNITED STATES PATENTS the walls of the openings to provide a resistance to the 1,253,489 l/l9l8 Houghland 229/9 axial movement of the Slide. 3,031,070 4/1962 Mulder 229/11 X 2,799,441 7/1957 Nemey 229/20 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEnJms m3 3.741.367

mvamoa ALTEN E. WH ITECAR SLIDE-SLEEVE PACKAGE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Slide-sleeve packages having, for example, medicinal tablets or capsules removably secured to a slide which is retained in a sleeve well known to the art. From the time of manufacture to the time when the purchaser wishes to start using material secured to the slide there is an inherent difficulty in handling such packages due to the tendency of the slide to slide out of the sleeve. This invention eliminates this problem. Further, such packages are subject to tampering, and this invention makes it simple to determine if there has been any tampering.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A slide-sleeve package has means forming an opening in the slide. A tongue in the sleeve extends through the opening in the slide. The tongue has opposed sides each of which lies substantially in a plane which is transverse, preferably perpendicular, to the axis of the slide and eachof which is in engagement with the means forming the opening to resist axial movement of the slide. Advantageously this structure is in duplicate on opposite sides of the axis of the sleeve with the tongues extending in opposite directions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an end perspective view, partially broken away, of a package in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the package of FIG. 1, partially broken away;

FIG. 3 is an end perspective view, partially broken away, of the package of FIG. 1 showing the slide moved axially with respect to the sleeve;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the plan indicated by the line 4 4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view, partially broken away, of the slide of the package of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A slide-sleeve package 2 has a sleeve 4 having a top wall 6, a bottom wall 8 and side walls 10 and 12. An opening 14 is provided in wall 6.

Whithin sleeve 4 is a slide 16 having a sheet 18 coated with a transparent synthetic resin such as polyvinyl chloride or chlorotrifluoroethylene (ACLAR) with bubble portions 22 formed over medicinal capsules 24.

As thus described, the slide-sleeve package 2 is well known in the art and hence need not be detailed further.

Tongues 28 and 30 in wall 8 of sleeve 4 are struck inwardly using, for example, a punch and die, on opposite sides of the axis of sleeve 4 thereby forming openings 32 and 34 and tongues 36 and 38 in slide 16. Tongues 28 and 30 extend in opposite directions and are both transverse to the axis of the sleeve 4. Tongue 28 has sides 40 and 42 each lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of sleeve 4 and a rounded end44. Similarly tongue 30 has sides 46 and 48 each lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of sleeve 4 and a rounded end 50.

Opening 32 has side walls 52 and 54 each lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of sleeve 4 and engaged by walls 40 and 42 respectively of tongue 28 which passes through opening 32. Opening 34 has side walls 56 and 58 each lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of sleeve 4 and engaged by the side walls 46 and 48 of tongue 30 which passes through opening 34. This structure provides a substantial resistance to the movement of sleeve 16 within sleeve 4 along its axis holding the sleeve in position until the purchaser wishes to remove a capsule 24. At this time the purchaser grasps the slide with one hand and the sleeve with the other and forcibly moves the slide along the axis of the sleeve. This forces the tongues 28 and 30 to move downwardly through openings 32 and 34 respectively and disengages them from the slide to permit the free movement of the slide.

While a single tongue and opening can be used, it is advantageous to duplicate the structure on opposite sides of the axis of the sleeve with the tongues extending in opposite directions to prevent trans-axial movement tending to decrease the resistance to axial movement.

It is a simple matter to determine whether or not a package having the improvement of this invention has been tampered with by observing the tongues. If tampering has occurred, tongues 28 and 30 will be observed to be free of openings 32 and 34 respectively. It should be observed that once the tongues 28 and 30 have been withdrawn from openings 32 and 34, it is difficult to reset them-so that they will remain in these openings.

The sleeve 4 and sheet 18 of slide 16 can be made of any of the numerous materials normally employed to make slide-sleeve packages, such as cardboard, plastics, or paperboard.

The foregoing embodiment is illustrated and is not intended to be limiting.

I claim:

1. In a slide-sleeve package the improvement comprising:

a tongue in the slide, said tongue being cut from the slide leaving an opening therein and said opening having a pair of opposed sides lying transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide, and

a tongue in the sleeve extending through said opensaid tongue having opposed sides each of which lies substantially in a plane which is transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide, and which are respectively in engagement with said opposed sides of the opening to resist sliding movement of the slide, and said tongue and opening having substantially the same dimensions being formed by a single punch operation.

2. The improvement in accordance with claim 1 in which the said opposed sides of the opening and of the tongue of the sleeve are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide.

3. The improvement in accordance with claim 1 in which the tongue in the sleeve are on one side of the center line of. the sleeve, a second tongue being cut from the sleeve leaving a second opening therein on the opposite side of the said center line, said second opening having a pair of opposed sides lying transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide, and the sleeve has a second tongue extending through said second opening and having opposed sides each of which lies substantially in a plane which is transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide and which are respectively in engagement with the opposed sides of 5. The improvement of claim 3 in which the sides of the openings and both tongues in the sleeve are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide and the tongues in the sleeve extend in opposite directions. 

1. In a slide-sleeve package the improvement comprising: a tongue in the slide, said tongue being cut from the slide leaving an opening therein and said opening having a pair of opposed sides lying transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide, and a tongue in the sleeve extending through said opening, said tongue having opposed sides each of which lies substantially in a plane which is transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide, and which are respectively in engagement with said opposed sides of the opening to resist sliding movement of the slide, and said tongue and opening having substantially the same dimensions being formed by a single punch operation.
 2. The improvement in accordance with claim 1 in which the said opposed sides of the opening and of the tongue of the sleeve are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide.
 3. The improvement in accordance with claim 1 in which the tongue in the sleeve are on one side of the center line of the sleeve, a second tongue being cut from the sleeve leaving a second opening therein on the opposite side of the said center line, said second opening having a pair of opposed sides lying transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide, and the sleeve has a second tongue extending through said second opening and having opposed sides each of which lies substantially in a plane which is transverse to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide and which are respectively in engagement with the opposed sides of the second opening to resist sliding movement of the slide, said second tongue in the sleeve and said second opening having substantially the same dimensions being formed by a single punch operation.
 4. The improvement of claim 3 in which the tongues in the sleeve extend in opposite directions.
 5. The improvement of claim 3 in which the sides of the openings and both tongues in the sleeve are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the sliding movement of the slide and the tongues in the sleeve extend in opposite directions. 